Cam Mather - Little House Off the Grid: Our Familys Journey to Self-Sufficiency

Little House

Off The Grid

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Our Familys Journey To Self-Sufficiency

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Michelle and Cam Mather

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Copyright 2011 by Michelle Mather and Cam Mather

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for brief passages quoted in a review.

Aztext Press

Tamworth, Ontario Canada K0K 3G0

michelle@aztext.com www.aztext.com

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Mather, Michelle, 1960-

Little house off the grid : our familys journey to self-sufficiency / Michelle and Cam Mather.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-0-9810132-5-1

1. Self-reliant living--Ontario. 2. Sustainable living--Ontario.

3. Ecological houses--Ontario. 4. Mather, Michelle, 1960- --Homes

and haunts--Ontario. 5. Mather, Cam, 1959- --Homes and haunts--

Ontario. I. Mather, Cam, 1959- II. Title.

GF78.M37 2011 640 C2011-905149-4

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty

No warranty is made with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein, and both the author and publisher specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book.

This publication contains the opinions and ideas of its author. The author and publishers assume no liability for personal injury, property damage, consequential damage, or loss, including errors and omissions, from using the information in this book, however caused.

Where trade names have been used no endorsement and no discrimination is intended by the publisher.

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This book is dedicated to the best neighbors on the planet, Ken and Alyce Gorter. Youll read their names numerous times throughout this text because they have been such an essential part of helping us to create the fantastic life we enjoy in our little house off the grid. Ken has displayed infinite patience while teaching me practical skills like welding and wiring as well as helping me to pour concrete and put up a wind turbine. Alyce has helped us to learn the ways of the country, find things of great value that dont cost anything, provide us with the big pets weve enjoyed hosting in our paddock and made generous contributions of horse manure for our gardens. There have been few steps forward here at Sunflower Farm that havent involved their help. We love Ken and Alyce and they have become family, and we hope theyll accept this small recognition of our appreciation for their help in making this wonderful place in the woods a livable and independent piece of paradise.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the many people who have helped us with this book.

Ellen Horak read through the text and gave us her perspective about her own move to the country.

Deborah Sowery-Quinn took time out of her busy life to proof the text and provide valuable feedback on the first draft.

Our friend and neighbor Heidi Lind was also kind enough to proof the text and find Cams mathematical errors.

We are grateful for their help and want to acknowledge that Cam and Michelle are responsible for any remaining errors in the text

Cam is grateful to his mother who found this place for us. She has been gone for more than a decade now but left a huge impact by helping us to find this magical place that we call home. His Dad had the insight decades ago to move to Eastern Ontario, so that when we were ready we knew should live in a place filled with lakes and forests that was still affordable.

Michelle is grateful to her Dad for all of those Sunday drives in the country, which apparently helped to inspire her desire for a rural life and to her mom for sharing her own stories of living in an off-grid cabin during the early years of her marriage.

We are both grateful to our daughters, Nicole and Katie, for being a part of this journey and not complaining ... too much.

As always we thank our partners in Aztext Press, Bill and Lorraine Kemp who help us keep our dream of publishing books about sustainable living alive and save us from having to commute to a real job in the city.

Thanks to everyone that has been part of this story, whether you were mentioned in the book or not.

1 Introduction

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Ive made a horrible mistake!

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As I stood in the blizzard, I was having serious doubts about the wisdom of my vision. It was two oclock in the morning. I had a moving van backed up against the garage door, but the wind was blowing the snow so hard it was starting to make drifts on the garage floor. This house I was about to move into was 4 kilometers (2 miles) from the nearest human being. If I needed help tonight I wasnt likely to find it.

I had just had the most harrowing drive of my 39 years. Starting out from the calm of a suburb west of Toronto with a large rental truck, it had started to snow lightly just beyond the city limits. It increased in intensity as I drove east along Highway 401 towards Napanee. As it got heavier, it turned into a dizzy, mesmerizing sort of dance... one where it is easy to zone out or fall asleep.

As I started up Highway 41 north, there were no longer dividing lines separating the two lane road, and maneuvering this monstrous truck without guide lines was proving to be a challenge.

But the worst was yet to come. After 30 kilometers (19 miles) if I made it to Tamworth, I still had to drive this truck through rapidly accumulating snow, another 13 kilometers (8 miles) to my new home and I knew that this late at night it wasnt likely the snow plow would have been through. Thats the downside to living on a road far from town. Why should they bother to plow until the morning - only an idiot would be out tonight. Plus there was this really steep hill up an escarpment with a 90-degree turn at the top with ponds on both sides. What was I thinking?

Yet by some miracle I was able to steer this beast through the snow. Now I had to start a fire to warm up the house that was well below the freezing point, and unload this truck by morning. Oh sure, a logical person would have rented the truck for two days, but logic seldom ruled my decisions. My strategy had been to pick up the truck at noon, have it loaded by 4pm, get to Tamworth by 8pm, unload the light stuff by 10 pm, have a relaxing sleep, unload the larger stuff with the help of my dad who was coming early in the morning, and then have the truck back comfortably within the 24 hours allotted.

But now it was 2 am and things had not gone according to plans. The house had taken longer to empty than wed expected so Id got away later. Then there was the snow.

And what kept resonating through my brain was the conversation Id had with my wife Michelle months earlier as we discussed moving in January. Moving in January is the stupidest idea Ive ever heard! My reply was Michelle, we havent had any real snow in Burlington in January for years. Were lucky if we get a dusting. Trust me, no problemo, its a no-brainer, dont worry, Ive got this under control.